Hmong New Year

Like Vietnam, Laos is filled with dozens of different ethnicities who live separately in tribal villages. Laos as country is a creation of the French colonial powers in the 19th Century. One of the largest ethnic minorities is the Hmong. The French left them alone and gave them a fair bit of autonomy. But when the first Indochinese war broke out, the French successfully rallied the Hmong to fight as guerrillas against the communist forces coming from Vietnam.

As a result of the Geneva Peace Accords, the communists temporarily drew back from Laos. But soon after, the Second Indochinese War (the Vietnam War) broke out and the North Vietnamese Army along with the small Pathet Lao (the laoation communists) began marching west across Northern Laos towards the capital. This march would lead them straight across Hmong highland territory. The peace accords had declared both Laos and Cambodia as neutral countries and off-limits to foreign armies. The US, now in S.Vietnam, decided to begin operating a covert war in Laos, using CIA officers and clandestine air force pilots. For the time they refrained from sending in large army units. Instead following the French example, they rallied the Hmong to fight the land war for them, while bombing the hell out of the country. In fact more tonnage was dropped by the US on both Laos and Cambodia, than on Vietnam itself. And to this day both countries have massive areas of land that are riddled with unexploded ordinances that continue to maim and kill locals.

To make a long story short, eventually the US pulled all air and arms support out of Laos, leaving the Hmong tribe to fight the massive North Vietnamese Army, and a massacre of the Hmong ensued in bloody battles. 52,ooo Hmong fled and became refugees in Thailand, and then many immigrated to the US. There are huge Hmong populations in California's central valley, Seattle, and Minneapolis. The Pathet Laos gained control of Laos and began resettling the remaining Hmong closer to cities and military bases to control and integrate the population.

While in the capital of Laos, Vientiane, I picked up the local english newspaper to find the Hmong were celebrating their week long New Years. Asking around, I found there was a Hmong village not far out of town. I jumped in a local bus and was on my way. In the bus, a Laos man started up a conversation with me. His name was John. He's Hmong and at the age of 13 he fled for Thailand where he was living in a refugee camp for 2 years before given permission to immigrate to California. Since Laos opened up in the 90's, he's been coming back every so often to visit family that stayed in Laos. He brought me to the festivities, showed me around, explained some of the ceremonies, and then brought me to his family house.

The New Year celebrations were fantastic. The Hmong traditional dress is gorgeous. The young men and women are dressed up the best because this is the time when spouses are found. In a tradition the single men and women line up across from each other and pass the time throwing a ball to one another. They sing, talk, and get to know each other. But they are also aware of the frequency a particular man or women throws the ball to them. The higher the frequency the more interest there is being shown. The day was fantastic, and the next day I returned with a few friends i had made at the guesthouse. The Hmong were extremely gracious and warm and we met so many of them and tossed a few balls as well.

Here are the pics from the two days. Also a good book on the secret war in Laos is The Ravens.